It’s the kind of news that could keep employers up at night: more than four in 10 Canadians head to work each day after getting less than the recommended amount of sleep. In the workplace, poor sleep is a major factor in employee absences, safety issues and significantly reduced productivity. The most serious repercussions include increased risk of chronic disease and mental health disorders.
Lorraine Irlam, a Registered Clinical Counsellor in B.C., developed insomnia after the birth of her daughter more than 30 years ago. “For too many years, chronic insomnia made it hard for me to function at work. Tasks took longer than they should have, it was harder to concentrate and think clearly, mistakes were easier to make. There were also days when I was simply too unwell to work.”
The 2025 survey by Sun Life found that 43 per cent of Canadian employees consistently fall short of getting the recommended seven hours of sleep daily. Twenty per cent have clinical insomnia (difficulty falling or staying asleep for three nights a week or more, for three months or more), and 46 per cent are at risk of clinical insomnia. Employees aged 18 to 34 report the highest rates of clinical insomnia or its risk.
“One of the cruelest aspects of insomnia is the self-fulfilling prophecy: the desperate desire to be at my best at work the next day created enormous pressure to ‘Hurry up and sleep,’” says Irlam.
Financial uncertainty, “always-on” work environments, caregiving and excessive screen time all contribute to the sleep crisis in Canada, states Sun Life’s report on the survey results.
“Whether we start with poor workplace relationships or with having a sick baby at home and having difficulty sleeping as a result, over time, all these things become intertwined,” says psychologist Carmen Bellows, Director, Mental Health at Sun Life. “There are a number of things employers can do to make things better or make things worse.”
Most confounding of all may be when a business owner or manager does both things simultaneously—such as encouraging employees to maintain work-life balance while condoning late-night work emails. These mixed messages can spark a cycle of work anxiety, poor sleep, poor work performance, increased work anxiety, and so on.
“Sleep is one of the largest factors of casual absence in the Canadian environment,” Bellows says. “We know that lack of sleep contributes to a loss of 3.1 days of work per year, and up to five to eight days per year for people with clinical insomnia. That’s huge.”
What can be done
For Irlam, sleeping pills eventually became ineffective. She tried relaxation exercises and alternative therapies such as acupuncture, but nothing helped for long. “What finally turned things around was CBT-I. Within weeks, I was sleeping better after struggling for over 20 years.”
CBT-I refers to cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia. It begins with “understanding how sleep regulation systems work when they’re working properly, how they can get disrupted over time, and the strategies to strengthen those systems again and get sleep back on track,” says Irlam.
Putting that knowledge to practical use can be a jolt to the system in the beginning. For example, getting up at roughly the same time each morning can be a hard habit to build. For an insomniac, the alarm may sound at an unwelcome early hour. But for CBT-I to reboot a sleep cycle, it’s important to “strengthen circadian rhythms and get lots of light during the day, especially in the morning,” Irlam says. “That consistent light exposure is what resets our body’s 24-hour clock.”
After her personal success with CBT-I more than 10 years ago, Irlam decided to specialize as a CBT-I therapist and currently has a waitlist. To help meet demand, her website, Insomnia Help Canada includes a self-guided online program.
Irlam also urges employers to check for coverage of CBT-I as part of their health benefits plan. “It’s difficult to overstate how short-sighted it is when workplace benefit plans don’t provide access to this relatively brief, evidence-based treatment. Supporting effective insomnia treatment is not simply about employee wellness; it can also protect attendance, cognitive performance, productivity and the contributions of highly committed employees,” says Irlam.
In addition to personal strategies for sleep health, a supportive employer can make the difference, says Bellows. The solution begins with a culture of open communication. “We are in a period of uncertainty,” she says. “Let employees know that while we may not be able to change what’s going on…we do want you to know what is available to help you.”
Many group benefits plans already have sleep supports available through an employee assistance program, a healthcare spending account, paramedical benefits and policies such as caregiver days off. It may simply be a matter of creating awareness, says Bellows. “Sleep improvement needs a multipronged approach, including workplace benefits, the medical community, exercise, and individual behavior change, often supported by psychological services.”
“Recognize the whole person,” Bellows continues. “Make sure your employees have access to care and make sure things are affordable through benefits structures and preventative options that address the reasons why people stay up at night, worrying.”